TikTok Is Galvanizing Communication Across Party Lines
and stoking the flames of a revolution
The most downloaded app has graduated from viral dances and lip-syncs to a powerful political tool. There are over 800 million active users engaging on the app everyday. Those users have discovered an outlet, not only for their creativity, but also for their political voice.
This new study explains how TikTok is the prime place for cross-party commentary. The researchers attribute political virality on the app to users interacting through communication trees. TikTok is unique because interactions are not just one-way, or even two-way. An existing piece of content can form a commentary chain with off-shoots, reposts, duets, and parodies. The nature of the app encourages users to engage with one another in a way that is dynamic and almost begs for interaction.
I’ve noticed in my own scrolling that users on Tiktok are more likely to express an authentic opinion than they would on Instagram. Perhaps that’s the whole point.
What these researchers found when they unpacked the data was surprising.
Republican users generated more political content and their videos received more responses; on the other hand, Democratic users engaged significantly more in cross-partisan discussions.
Or maybe that’s not surprising at all. I’ve found that the algorithm serves me content, via my For You Page, that I mostly agree with or identify with. However, for every 10 blue clips that seem like a bit of me, there’s an 11th red clip that shows up unannounced and unwelcome. So what do I do? I react. I duet the video of the girls in cowboy boots waving their Trump 2020 flag. Strangely, I do this not because I want to express my opinion, but because I want to have the last word and I want to change someone’s mind.
Most would agree that the GOP is about preservation (defense), while the Dem’s are about liberation (offense). I’d infer that Democrats feel the need to speak up to incite change and Republicans feel compelled to speak up to defend the way things already are. Tiktok is not immune to this.
Early in June, my For You Page was noticeably different. There were far less clips of dancing, singing, and comedy skits. They were replaced with videos of outrage, pain, and protest against the murder of George Floyd and countless others who’ve lost their lives and their liberty because of systemic oppression and racially motivated violence.
I didn’t consider myself to be particularly political prior to June. I was certainly liberal. However, I was embarrassingly uninvolved and uninformed. But not everyone has the privilege to opt out of the political discussion.
The more time I spent on the app, the more I engaged with political content. I was educating myself with facts, experiences, and opinions from users all across the country. As I learned more, my For You Page transformed. I saw a revolution happening on my iPhone. I was compelled to meet that revolution in the streets.
If it weren’t for TikTok, I would not have found myself marching down the streets of Oakland with my colleagues and friends chanting “No Justice, No Peace”. I know that TikTok has been a part of inspiring a movement, at the very least a movement within me.
So how is it that I was motivated to speak up and take action after 31 years of inaction? The research tells us that TikTok inspires us not just to comment and to share, but to become the content. So there I was, participating on the app and participating in the world. Cross party commentary has added fuel to the fire of the revolution against oppression, classism, racism, and systemic violence. Next time you fire up the app, you might find your ideology challenged. There’s got to be a metaphor in their somewhere for the Renegade Dance.
